On The Way to Market
by Black-Inque2002
Summary: One shot. Magdalena gets a little scare when she takes her daughter out shopping.


Epilogue-1988

Magdalena held tightly onto her daughter's hand as the two of them made their way down the sidewalk to the open air market. Jacinta toddled alongside in her pink dress and shoes, hair neatly brushed and keen eyes observing the crowds going by. Some gave her a nod and a smile as they passed, and some even stopping the pair for a brief chat with the little girl. Jacinta was all too pleased to engage her admirers in conversations that mainly involved her dress, the sky, and where mommy was taking her, all of them perfectly normal subjects for her limited vocabulary to touch upon. She chattered on animatedly in both English and Spanish, often mixing the two, eyes bright and inquisitive while Magdalena watched on with pride.

_We'll be okay here_, she thought, feeling any inner worries subside. _Just the two of us. That's all we need. You hear that, Alejandro, my coward husband? We don't need you!_

"Come on, Jacinta,"she urged gently, starting to pull her daughter along and away from her current new friend, an elderly gentleman. "Say goodbye to the nice man."

"Oh,"said he, getting shakily to his feet. "Sorry to keep you ladies. I forget that you young ones are so busy these days." He tipped his fedora politely to Jacinta. "Well, little girl, nice talkin' to ya."

"Bye!" Jacinta said, flapping her little arm in a wave that looked more like a baby bird trying to fly. Once the man was out of sight, she turned her attention back to the to the activity at hand.

"Mama,"she said. "What're we, um, getting at the place?"

"Food, sweetie,"her mother replied somewhat absently as she tried to manoeuver around the increasingly crowded street while still keeping a hold of her daughter.

They stopped at an intersection, waiting for the light to change so they could be on their way. Jacinta, ever curious, was glancing back and forth from the traffic light to the street corner when something new caught her eye.

It was a boy, rounding the opposite corner on the other side of the street, accompanied by sinister, darkly dressed men. It was hard not to notice someone so odd.

He appeared to be about ten, although there was a certain quality in which he carried himself and strutted about as though he owned the place that made him seem much older. He was dressed much differently than the other people around him as well. Sort of...old fashioned. Jacinta's young mind couldn't understand why he stood out so much to her. She felt connected to him somehow, even though she'd never seen him before.

The boy must have felt it too. Jacinta saw him slow his pace and glance in her direction out of the corner of his eye. When he saw who was staring at him, he turned his head to get a better look, and for a moment it seemed as if time had stopped and there was no one else in the world but them. The boy quirked his eyebrows in an unspoken question, narrowing his dark eyes slightly.

Jacinta, on the other hand, cocked her head to one side and looked him over with frank interest. Was he going to come over and talk to her like the other people she'd met today? She hoped so. It would be nice to have another kid to play with. Although the piercing glint in his eyes was a little scary.

She was so absorbed in her observation that she didn't even hear her mother talking to her.

"Jacinta, come on," Magdalena said, tugging on the girl's hand to get her to move. The light had changed and it was time to go. When the child didn't respond, she raised her voice a bit. "Jacinta! What are you looking at?"

Alas, the child's mind was elsewhere, unable to be called back. Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, Magdalena followed her daughter's line of vision to see what on earth could hold Jacinta's attention so. When she saw what, or rather, _who_ it was, her blood froze and her throat constricted, leaving her in a breathless panic.

_No...It couldn't....! _Her chest heaved as she struggled to get a mouthful of air.

But it was, she saw. Plain as day and staring right back at her. The doctor's son, Jose. And his very presence in this city rattled whatever sense of security Magdalena had built around her fragile spirit.

Von Richter must know where she was! Why else would his son be out walking the streets? And those men surrounding him were most certainly Types in disguise. _And they were looking right at her! _

Careful not to give them a good look at her rather distinctive eyes, Magdalena focused all of her attention on getting Jacinta to move.

"Come on, hon,"she said, her voice coming out a bit too shaky. "Let's go." She jerked the child after her, the poor thing struggling to keep up with her mother's brisk pace.

"Mama!"Jacinta cried, still periodically turning her head over her shoulder to keep the boy in her sight. "Who was that boy over there?" Not getting an answer, Jacinta persisted in asking the question again:

"Who was that–"

"No one, Jacinta!" Magdalena snapped, rubbing her suddenly pounding temples.

Jacinta promptly clamped her mouth shut at the reprimand. Whatever she'd just said, it had made her mother terribly upset. Best not to talk anymore.

_He knows! He knows!_ Magdalena's thoughts raced so quickly she was almost hyperventilating._ He's seen me and my daughter and now he'll tell his father, and then he'll come and..._

"OW!" Jacinta squealed, jarring her mother back to reality. Magdalena looked down to see that she was gripping her daughter's hand so tightly that her knuckles were white. She abruptly let go and pulled the confused girl aside from the crowd and quickly swept her into a hug.

"Mama,"Jacinta said, her voice muffled against her mother's shoulder. "Are you mad at me?"

"No,"Magdalena replied, her voice quavering with barely checked emotion. "Not at you. Never you. I just had a little scare there." She got to her feet and forced a smile. "Let's go, okay?"

"Sir, did you see that girl?"one of the Type henchman asked as their party continued along.

"Yes,"Jose replied thoughtfully, using one of the most rational sounding voices any of the four lackeys had ever heard. "And I saw her mother, too. I think she knows who we are."

"Yes, sir,"said another Type, glancing back over his shoulder, but the two mysterious persons had long disappeared into the crowd. "She _did_ seem to recognize you. I think we frightened her."

"Do we do anything about it, sir?"asked the first.

"No,"Jose replied firmly with a shake of his head, sending his black hair whisking back and forth like a pendulum. "Why should we worry? We know there are Technos in this city."

"But, sir, why was this one so afraid?"

The boy shrugged nonchalantly. "Who cares? Let my father deal with it. Besides, I have other things to worry about. We'll probably never see them again."


End file.
